We are so excited about the opportunity to train First Southern Baptist Church of Dodge City to do Judgement House this year. That moves the JH ministry just a little farther west in the state of Kansas. The people here are excited about doing this ministry and seeing what it could do for their church and community. I can’t wait for the great reports that will be coming out of Dodge City this October! Make sure you take time to pray for the staff and members of this church as they start on this new adventure. We finished with training around 9:15 p.m. tonight and will be starting again at 9 a.m. tomorrow. After training, we will jump in the van and head home to get to NewSpring by church time. Pray for us as we train tomorrow as well for our safety on the way home.
Bathroom Update
Here are some updated photos of our bathroom remodel project. As you can see we are getting closer to having it finished. We are still waiting on the vanity to get here but Sarah and Dale matted some photos that she took on a trip to Cottonwood Falls, Kansas. They look amazing in the room. The matte matches the walls and the frames really set things off. So we see the end in sight and the crew has done a great job. It also been fun having everyone working on the project. Actually my job is pretty much just blogging about it and making sure we have plenty of Diet Pepsi in the fridge!
Since this is the second blog post in a couple of hours make sure you read the previous one.
Parents’ Day In Adventure Avenue
Today at NewSpring we celebrated Parents’ Day in Adventure Avenue, giving the parents of our preschool dept a chance to participate with their kids in the Adventure Avenue Theater. Lots of parents commented on how much they enjoyed it. I met one little boy with his mom & dad in tow and he was saying, “Come on, I will show you where I learn about Jesus and, Dad, don’t forget to sing the songs with me!” How cool is that? A dad came up to me as I was leaving and told me how much he appreciated the ministry for kids at NewSpring. He continued by saying it (KidzWorld) was what brought them to NewSpring, and now they feel there is something for all ages of the family. He said “This church has given our family new hope and a place to call home.” Setting environments is what we do at NewSpring and it so awesome to see the whole family enjoy them. To all those of you who help us set the environments…thank you.
Another little project we are excited about is the chance to minister to families all over Wichita and the surrounding areas. Dale and the crew is making us a portable puppet stage to take to neighborhoods and parks for puppet shows. It is going to be great to have a tool to present the message of God’s love and His desire to have a relationship with everyone. At the end of May we are heading south of Andover to have a our first block party. We are taking our inflatables and puppet stage and plan to have a blast with the folks there. I am excited about it and I ask you to pray for us as we try this for the first time. We hope to offer this in different backyards throughout the area! We are looking for hosts to invite neighborhood kids and we will provide the program with includes puppets, music and snowcones! More to come on that exciting opportunity.
Another thing we are excited about is the possibility of hosting birthday parties for our kids in the community in our Route 252 and Adventure Avenue Theater. Starting June 2, if you go to our website you will be able to sign up to schedule your party. A variety of packages will be offered. One package even includes a custom puppet show for the birthday boy or girl. This will be open not only to NewSpringers but also the community. What an awesome way to get people come in and check out our awesome kids’ environments.
Someone asked me, “Why are you killing yourself and your wife with all this new stuff for kids?” First of all, we are not killing ourselves–Karla & Darrel are the ones being sacrificed! Just kidding! Our KidzWorld staff knows for a fact that only 25% of kids in the Wichita area go to church on a regular basis, so that is why we do what we do.
What a Difference a Day Makes!
Like I said in my previous post Debbie and I are headed to Colorado for a Judgement House meeting. When we left yesterday it was 83 degrees. Last night driving from Denver towards Glenwood Springs it started snowing. Right now I am waiting for the Pastors & leaders to arrive so I thought I would let you see some pictures. Currently the temp is 24 and they are expecting 6 to 16 inches of snow. The trees are beautiful but it makes driving a bit difficult at times. In fact, right down the road they are making all commercial vehicles stop and put chains on. I was talking to one of the locals and it was over 70 yesterday. What a difference a day makes.
We went to eat a salad and this is what our car looked like when we came out!
We stopped along the highway and took this picture. You can see how heavy the snow is and how much has fallen already. It is pretty in a way as long as you are not driving in it.
You can see by the branch how much snow has fallen and it is still coming down very hard.
Pray for us as we will travel to Denver tomorrow to catch a plane to come home to warm Kansas!
And the Virtue is…
Patience…that is what we will be talking about all month to the kids of NewSpring. Patience is waiting until later for what you want now. Isn’t that good? This Sunday we have a very unique way to get the point across to the kids. In fact, we are giving them something to take home and they can’t open it up and they have to bring it back with them on May 18th to reap the reward of their patience. One of the bottom lines for the month is: “If you don’t wait, it could cost you.” The memory verse is Psalm 27:14, “Wait for the Lord; be strong and take heart and wait for the Lord.” So there you have it a few days before anyone else.
Pray for Debbie and me as we leave in just a few moments to drive to KC and fly to Denver for a Judgement House meeting. We are excited about the possibilities of more churches throughout the Midwest doing JH this year.
The bathroom project is going well. They glazed the walls last night and we are waiting on the vanity and this project will be done. I will post some pictures next week.
Hope to see you this weekend. Mark has an amazing sermon series on GPS and finding direction in your life. You don’t want to miss it! Don’t forget to invite someone to come with you. Over 70% of people polled said they would come to church if they were just invited by a friend.
Bathroom is Still in Progress
Today we celebrated Danny’s birthday and after our meal of fajitas and homemade ice cream (chocolate/banana) and angel food cake with strawberries, we pushed away from the table and 
the kids decided to start painting the bathroom. Nate plastered the walls yesterday so it was ready for a fresh coat of paint. Last week they put up the trim and hung the bathroom door. In fact, the kids used their new shower this morning and loved it even though we haven’t gotten the glass wall up yet. So here is the lastest picture of the bathroom. We are still waiting for the vanity to come in and once we get that the project will be complete.
There is No Place Like Home!
We got up this morning, went to airport, checked our bags and headed to Memphis then to Wichita. Arrived around 11 a.m. and it is sure good to finally make it home. What a great time we had at the Children’s Conference and I trust it will help us do more for children here at NewSpring.
We got a call from a church in Dodge City wanting to be trained for Judgement House the second week of May so for the next couple of weeks we are on the move again. Pray for us as we train these churches to do Judgement House and also pray for the churches who will be doing it this fall.
The Party Continues for One More Day
OK, I know all of you are on the edge of your seats wanting to know if we made it home to Wichita. In one word…NO! We got to O’Hare Airport and went to turn in our rental car but we were trying to return our Budget rental car at a Dollar Rental Car return terminal. So, after all the rental car attendants and the ladies riding with me had a big laugh over that, we finally made it to the check-in for Northwest Airlines. As we checked in, the computer indicated that our flight would probably be delayed. Then we made it to the gate and found out that severe weather was causing many delayed flights including our own. The weather broke a little and some flights began to take off but bad weather was still delaying our plane coming into Chicago. As the minutes ticked away, our likelihood of catching our connecting flight in Minneapolis faded fast. The stormy weather picked up again and no flights were allowed to take off or land at O’Hare. It became obvious that we would not be getting home to Wichita tonight. Fortunately, we were able to get our luggage back and find a hotel close to the airport. So tomorrow we have to get up at 3:30 a.m. to catch a flight at 6 a.m. We have been rerouted to Memphis then to Wichita. Lord willing, we should be home around 11:30 a.m. Tomorrow is my son Danny’s birthday and we were supposed to take him for breakfast for his birthday but it looks like we will have to do it on Monday. Happy Birthday, Danny! You Rock!! Mom & Dad love you.
Made it to Chicago..barely
OK, reread the previous post to catch up on the “Karla syndrome” that is taking place on this trip. We ended up leaving 1 1/2 hours late from Wichita. When we landed in Minnesota we had 25 minutes to get to our plane to Chicago. Well, we taxied for about 7 minutes… we were moving all the time but it seemed like we landed in Des Moines and taxied to Minneapolis! We got to our gate and would you believe that they had no operator to bring the jetway over to the plane. I guess the guy who makes $9 hour doing that job decided he had more important things to do. The captain actually had to call someone to get a person to come and bring the jetway over. Ten more minutes passed and we finally got off the plane with 8 minutes to get to our next gate. Of course we got off at terminal A and our next gate was terminal G gate 11. Gate G 11 was evidently on the border of Canada. Debbie, Karla, Colleen and myself had to put on our sneakers and sprint to the gate. Oh, one more small detail…the airport tram was not running! After hurdling over suit cases, side-stepping slow walkers and nearly taking a wrong turn; we made it to our gate. Needless to say they were expecting us. As we ran up to the check-in desk the attendant waved us down the jetway and onto the plane. As we each dropped into our seat, the captain came on the PA system and announced that the door of the cabin was being shut. So after my 4 mile jog to the gate I realized two things: 1. I am out of shape, 2. Karla is right–weird things do happen to her when she travels!
The Conspire Conference began today at 9:00 a.m. It has been great so far. We have already been challenged to consider some new ideas for our KidzWorld ministry. We were privileged to hear from several great speakers including author John Trent, Disney Animator/Director Gene Keane (son of Family Circus creator Bill Keane), and Senior Vice President over Disney Character Voices Rick Dempsey. Tomorrow we have the opportunity to attend breakout sessions designed to help us in specific areas of the ministry. We are looking forward to that.
More tomorrow…
On the road again…
Debbie and I are just about ready to leave again and hit the open road (or I should say open sky since we are flying). We are headed off to Willow Creek Community Church in Chicago, Illinois for a children’s conference. We are excited to see what other churches are doing that we might be able to try here at NewSpring. Also, it is a time just to dream big for KidzWorld. Colleen and Karla are coming along to see the Willow Creek ministry where over 3000 kids show up every weekend to learn about Jesus and how He loves them. It should be an exciting time. Pray for us as we fly out there and return late Friday night. Pray for Darrel (Karla’s husband) as he becomes Mr. Mom for a few days and for Colleen’s husband and boys who will be batchin’ it. I am just hoping to have a bathroom door on our bathroom when I get back (hint, hint).
Then next week we make a very quick trip to Glenwood Springs, Colorado for Judgement House. It is so exciting to see more and more churches get pumped up about Judgement House and what it can do for their church and community. We shoot out of here late Wednesday from KC and head back early Saturday morning and hit Wichita around noon. I know I must be getting “old” because all this traveling throws me off and it takes about 2 days to think clearly again. But I know it is making a difference in the lives of so many others that it is worth it. It won’t be long before we are kicking off Judgement House sign-up here at NewSpring.
I am still so excited about all that happened last week at NewSpring. It is great to hear about many adults receiving Christ in the Worship Center and all the kids who made the same decision in KidzWorld. I hope you are taking time to “celebrate” what happened last weekend and let’s get ready to be in our places this weekend.
My son told me that he watched the kids coming to KidzWorld and they were taking their shoes off as they walked through the tunnel to make sure they weren’t going to miss a second of fun in KidzWorld. He also overheard a mom telling her son (who was attending for the first time) to have fun. Then she said, “That’s the first time I’ve ever told him to have fun in church.” Another boy said as he was leaving, “Are you sure it is time to go? It went so fast!” My favorite one was a granddad who said, “Come on, it’s time to go; they are shutting off the lights!” Isn’t it cool to have kids and adults excited about being in church? All these statements are a credit to the great volunteers who help us every week! You guys are awesome!!!!
Well, I am finishing up this blog in the airport terminal. Karla has just informed me that everytime she flies she loses her luggage or something else happens to make the trip exciting. Sooo we got up to the gate and the flight is delayed for about hour because of weather in Memphis, TN. So our connection in Minnesota might be tight. I will let you know what happens.
lifeinakidzworld.com 
